Welcome To Phantom Manor
by Jase Andrews
Summary: When two teens become trapped in a mysterious house known as Phantom Manor, can they help the soul of a bride move on and defeat an evil Phantom? Based on the ride at Disneyland Paris.
1. Boot Hill

This story is based on the "Phantom Manor" ride at Disneyland Paris. I created the characters Adrianna and Mike, and the story is based on the tales and official storylines of the attraction.

Chapter 1: Boot Hill

Adrianna Bonnet was a seemingly typical girl – sixteen years old, blond hair, nice figure. She lived in Texas, in a small town called Thunder Mesa. But this sixteen year old girl was different from any other sixteen year old girl.

She could talk to dead people.

Adrianna didn't know it, but she was sort of a medium – a girl, 'gifted', shall we say, with the ability to receive messages from the deceased. Practically every night, Adrianna would have dreams, nightmares, of people's deaths. One in particular reoccurred often: A dream about a mysterious woman in white, running through a large house on a hill, looking for someone. And the dream always ended with a cloaked figure, his face always hidden, grabbing the girl and pulling her into the ground.

Adrianna wanted these dreams to stop. She'd gone to doctors, psychiatrists, even a hypnotist, but nothing seemed to work. And so whenever Adrianna had one of these dreams, she decided that she should get over the shock of them by doing the only thing that can solve any problem in the world: going shopping.

"Mike, c'mon! I want to go check out that new mini-mall in Dallas!" Adrianna said as her friend Mike rushed down his front steps. Adrianna hadn't gotten a car yet, so she had convinced her friend Mike to drive her. She waited by his car as he fumbled for his keys to unlock the door.

"So why did I agree to this?" Mike asked her as they got in the car. Adrianna smiled.

"Because you're my best friend in the whole wide world, and I couldn't do anything without you."

"And don't you forget it," Mike said with a wink.

They were out in the middle of nowhere, heading towards Dallas, when all of a sudden, a flash of lightning struck a telephone poll alongside road in front of them. Adrianna screamed, and Mike slammed on the breaks. The car rolled to a stop just before touching the frayed electrical cords, still sparking.

"Oh my god," Adrianna gasped.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked her, shaking.

"I think so…anything wrong with your car?"

"I think it's fi-" Mike started, but before the word 'fine' escaped his lips, the battery suddenly died.

"…dead." Mike corrected himself. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Well this is just great." Adrianna moaned, and got out her cell phone, "I don't even have service now!"

"Well…maybe there's roadside call box or something we can use," Mike said, and they got out to check.

Adrianna looked off into the distance, trying to see any sign of civilization. There was a large flash of lightning, and she shut her eyes from the brightness of the jolt. When she opened them again, she saw a sign off in the distance.

"Hey Mike! I think I found something!" She called to him; he had gone to other telephone poles to see if there was a phone. He saw the sign too, and they both ran to it.

It was extremely old, made of wood, and the writing on it was barely recognizable. In faded white paint, the sign read:

_Boot Hill_

Mike and Adrianna looked past the sign, and saw that it was some sort of small town. But the place looked abandoned.

"A ghost town?" Mike wondered. He'd driven by here many times and had never seen it.

Adrianna squinted to see better. At the end of the small street of buildings was a large hill. And on the hill sat…

"Oh my god."

It was the house. The one that Adrianna kept seeing in her dreams.

"This can't be real," She muttered.

"What? What is it?" Mike asked, confused.

"See that house there, at the end of the street?" Adrianna asked him. He looked into the distance, and nodded.

"What about it?"

"I've seen it before."

"What?"

"Yeah. Like in a dream. And I don't think it's a good sign."

"Well…maybe someone's there," Mike suggested, "Maybe they have a phone. Every other building looks abandoned."

"I don't know…" Adrianna muttered. She got an uneasy feeling from not just the house, but this whole Boot Hill place. A rain drop hit her face. Others came, and soon it started to downpour. The other buildings wouldn't work as shelter – they were too dilapidated and run down. Adrianna and Mike ran for the house at the end of the street, unknowing the danger that lay ahead.


	2. Welcome, Curious Friends

Chapter 2: Welcome, Curious Friends…

As Adrianna and Mike approached the house, Adrianna's uneasiness about the house continued to increase. A large iron gate was open just a crack, allowing them to fit through. As Mike squeezed through the opening, Adrianna noticed a plaque on a stone pillar that was on the side of the gate. Another pillar, identical to this one, was on the other.

"_Ravenswood Manor_," Adrianna read as Mike made his way through the gate, "_Built 1849_."

Adrianna also made her way through the gate, and looked at the imposing wooden house.

"C'mon," Adrianna said, against her better judgment, "Let's go see if anyone's home."

They walked up onto the covered wooden porch, and as Mike used one of the large door knockers, Adrianna peered into one of the windows. She couldn't see a thing through any of them. The wind whistled by the porch, and Adrianna heard some soft music, coming from somewhere inside the house.

"Do you hear that?" She asked, trying to listen. She wasn't sure if it was real or not. It sounded like a music box.

"I don't think anyone's hom-" Mike started to say, but all of a sudden, the large doors creaked open. Mike and Adrianna peered inside. The room was lit by a few candles, and Mike and Adrianna walked into the house to get a better look. But as soon as they entered, the doors closed behind them.

"Uh oh." Mike quipped. He tried to open the doors, but they were stuck shut. Meanwhile, Adrianna was concentrating on the rest of the room. There didn't seem to be anywhere else to go. All that was in the room were a few candles and plants, and a gilded mirror on the wall. Adrianna looked at the mirror. All of a sudden, her reflection changed. It was a woman with brunette hair, and she looked like she was wearing a veil. She had a sad expression on her face…she looked trapped.

It was the woman from Adrianna's dreams.

"Uh…any luck with those doors, Mike?" Adrianna called nervously. She touched the old wall, trying to find some sort of secret passageway. But as soon as she did, it started to feel wet. Adrianna backed away, and watched in shock as red liquid started to drip from out of nowhere on the wall. It spelled out a message: _Welcome, curious friends…_

"Mike!" Adrianna gasped, and they stared at the message.

"Is that…blood?" Mike asked.

"I sure hope not," Adrianna murmured.

There was a creaking noise – a wall near the message suddenly opened, revealing a small octagonal room with many flickering candles and four portraits.

They were all of the same person – a young girl, the one Adrianna had seen in the mirror. One of the girl picking roses, one of her riding in a boat with a parasol, the girl wading in a pond, and the girl having a picnic with a man playing a guitar.

Adrianna and Mike stepped in, and the wall slid shut.

"I think we need to stop walking through doors," Mike suggested. Out of the corners of the room, a voice suddenly blared from everywhere and nowhere.

"_You, you who have dared disturbing the serenity of this place... You must have a lot of courage to step through the door of this house..."_

Adrianna and Mike whirled around, searching for where the voice was coming from.

"Mike! Look at the paintings!" Adrianna said, noticing that they were changing.

The room was stretching. And the portraits were too, revealing that they weren't as they appeared. The one of the woman picking roses revealed a skeleton coming out of the ground to attack her; the one of her in the boat revealed that she was headed right for a steep waterfall. The portrait of the girl in the pond stretched to show a water demon reaching for her ankles, and the picnic scene showed that millions of ants and other horrifying critters were coming to destroy their picnic.

_Things aren't always what they seem,_ the mysterious voice said, _"This room's walls, for example, are they actually stretching? And as you can see, there is no door... no window...What a frightening problem to solve... where is the way out?"_

All of a sudden, the candles went out, and the two heard a scream from above. There, at the top of the room, was a corpse in a tattered tuxedo, being hung by a mysterious figure. It reminded Adrianna of the shadowy man that she'd seen in her dreams.

The figure cackled, and vanished. The lights came back on, and Adrianna realized that Mike had a vice grip on her arm in terror.

"Mike, relax," Adrianna said, trying to console him. But she was feeling unnerved herself. The wall slid open again, and they could see it lead to another part of the house.

"C'mon," Adrianna said, helping Mike out of the room.

"Why'd you listen to me?" Mike moaned, "I'm never right…I never should've suggested we come to this godforsaken house."

"I hear something," Adrianna said, trying to take Mike's mind off things. They walked through a hallway that had portraits hanging in it – unbeknownst to them, as soon as they passed one, it transformed and contorted. A woman lying on a couch became a panther-creature, a sailing ship contorted into a black and white ghost ship, and a Greek woman transformed into a hideous medusa. At the end of the hall was a large, full body portrait of the woman that Adrianna kept seeing. She was in a wedding dress.

"So she's a bride," Adrianna whispered to herself. But there was still a lot that Adrianna did not understand.


	3. Meeting The Madame

Note: Madame Leota is owned by Disney, and her incanations are from the Phantom Manor ride (some changed to rhyme in English). There are also a few lines from the Hautned Mansiom movie that I threw in.

Chapter 3: Meeting the Madame

Adrianna and Mike left the portrait hall, and found themselves at a grand staircase. The large windows near it showed that the storm was still raging on, and didn't show any signs of letting up. They slowly climbed the stairs, taking in the details and exquisiteness of the manor. Everything was hauntingly beautiful – the two could tell that the house, although now far from it's original grandeur, was still a work of art.

Adrianna continued to hear strange music – it sounded as if someone was singing, the same tune over and over.

She finally realized what it was as they continued through the house; the bride, singing. The woman appeared to them, in a hallway that seemed to go on forever. She was holding a candelabra, and she seemed to appear and disappear, frozen in time, searching for something…or someone.

"Mike! Look at that woman!" Adrianna said to him, trying to convince herself that the mysterious woman wasn't a hallucination. Mike saw her too.

"Who is she? That looks like…like that woman in the weird stretching room thingy!"

"I know. And I think she needs our help," Adrianna said determinedly.

They continued on, and passed a piano that seemed to be playing a doleful funeral march by itself, a monstrous clock that continued to chime thirteen with spinning hands that never stopped, and a hallway of doors that seemed to be keeping something in behind them – some moved in and out as they were breathing, others creaked open and shut from the top, and screams and the sounds of clawing on the door could be heard from other doors. And all along this area was strange wallpaper, which showed the faces of demons over and over...Adrianna suspected that their eyes were actually watching them pass by.

Mike and Adrianna continued through this macabre place, Adrianna trying to figure out why she was here and how to save the woman, and Mike wanting to get the heck out. Eventually they came to a door, and they could hear strange chants coming from inside. It was a woman's voice.

"_Spirits and phantoms on your ghostly flight, escort the beautiful bride into the night..."_

Adrianna opened the door. It was a dimly lit room, and all they could see was the back of a large chair, and a strange green glow emitting from in front of it.

"_Warlocks and witches, answer this call, your presence is wanted at this ghostly ball..."_

"Hey! Um…hi," Adrianna said, walking over to see who was in the chair. She could see that there was a green glowing crystal ball sitting on a table, and tarot cards were scattered about on it. It looked like a séance. However, the chair was empty.

"_From midnight to the first light of the day, we will waltz together with a ghastly array…"_

The chanting continued. Adrianna couldn't believe her ears: it was coming from the crystal ball! She walked around it, and was shocked to see a woman's face inside. Her pale skin and raven hair looked green because of the glow from the ball, but she had sharp features and vibrant red lips. The woman finished one last incantation.

"_Join now the spirits in nuptial doom, a ravishing bride, a vanishing groom..."_

"A vanishing groom?" Adrianna questioned. But Mike, who had come over to see what Adrianna was looking at, had already asked something.

"Woah! Who're you?" Mike said, astounded.

"I am Madame Leota. See-er of all. Voice to the spirits."

"You're a fortune teller."

"Yes."

"So I assume you know all about us?"

"Yes."

"And why we're here and everything?"

"Yes. I know all things past, present, and future."

"Cool," Mike interjected, "Can you tell me who's going to win the next super bowl? Because I-"

"Look," Adrianna interrupted, "We need to find out what's going on here. I think we've wound up here because we're supposed to help this bride person. But we don't know how."

"That you must figure out on your own, child," Leota purred, smiling slyly at Adrianna.

"Are you sure you can't-"

"The answers you seek can not be found in the cards – you have to find them yourself."

"But can't you just-"

"Look kid," Madame Leota said, in an annoyed tone, "I don't make the rules, okay? I just work here."

"Well…uh…can't you at least fill us in so we know what's happened here?" Mike tried.

"Ah, now that I can do," Madame Leota said with a chuckle, "Watch closely…"

Her face disappeared, and the swirling green energy in her crystal ball suddenly showed Ravenswood Manor – but it looked new and majestic instead of old and run-down.

"It all began in the year 1849…"


	4. The Flashback

I got the information of Phantom Manor's "history" from the website It is an excellent Phantom Manor site if you're looking for photos or stories.

Chapter 4: The Flashback

"Ravenswood Manor was originally owned by Henry and Martha Ravenswood," Leota explained, as a picture of them appeared in the crystal ball. Adrianna saw some similarities between these two people and the bride.

"Henry was the rich owner of the Thunder Mesa Mining Co, and the patriarch of one of the Thunder Mesa founder's families. When gold was found in The Big Thunder Mountain in the year 1849, the town of Thunder Mesa became the…shall we say… 'dead center' of attention. Mr. Ravenswood used his money to build a mansion on a hill, an area of Thunder Mesa known as Boot Hill." The picture then changed to show Boot Hill in it's better days – it was a bustling miner's town, full of people and life.

"Mr. Ravenswood had a young daughter named Melanie...the woman that you've seen here in this house. He was very proud of her, but when Melanie fell in love, and her lover proposed to her, they were planning on leaving the Thunder Mesa town. When Mr. Ravenswood heard that, he was furious and he would not let that happen. But Henry and Martha were killed in the earthquake that shook Thunder Mesa in 1860." The images in the crystal ball suddenly shifted to show the earthquake occurring. The floor shook slightly when this scene appeared, and a few tarot cards fell onto the floor.

"The earthquake provoked an explosion in Big Thunder mine, causing Boot Hill to become damaged and ravaged; a shadow of it's former self."

"Did Henry manage to prevent the groom from arriving, even from beyond his grave? Some believe so, for on the wedding day, the fiancé never appeared. The future bride had a broken heart and she isolated herself for the rest of her life. She had never got out of the Manor but, she has been seen behind the windows, in her bride gown. Mortals, of course, were too scared to investigate and stated to call this supposed haunted house, Phantom Manor. And we have all been trapped here since, the Phantom terrorizing Melanie night and day for eternity."

The scene disappeared, and Madame Leota's face returned.

"And that's what happened."

"So her name's Melanie?" Adrianna repeated.

"Yes – she was quite beautiful, actually."

"'Was?'" Questioned Mike, "We've seen her throughout the house…she still looks young."

"Things aren't always as they appear…surely you've learned that by now," Madame Leota said with a gleam in her eye.

"Of course…Melanie must be long dead now…but trapped forever as a spirit, doomed to wait for her groom." Adrianna mused. Leota nodded.

"The Phantom is keeping her here, still deranged and believing she can never leave. And by doing so, has trapped the rest of the inhabitants of this once prominent manor. You will see more of them, I'm sure – I called them with my incantation."

"Great. More ghosts." Mike groaned halfheartedly. Adrianna smiled. She was the one who had dragged him into this in the first place, but he was being optimistic about the situation. Or at least as optimistic as he could be.

"Go on, the party's already started," Leota said mischeviously, as another door appeared on the other side of the room and opened, "The Misses will just _die_ if you're late."

"Ha ha," Adrianna said sarcastically.

"That will lead you to the ballroom – the party has been repeating itself for quite some time now, every single night…but perhaps there will be a change in the agenda this evening," Leota hinted.

Adrianna smiled at the soothsayer, and she and Mike continued on. As they left, Madame Leota made one more prediction before disappearing into the swirling mists of her crystal ball…

"_Mortals who tread here, do not be afraid, you'll save the bride and this evil will fade…"_


	5. Ballroom and Boudoir

Chapter 5: Ballroom and Boudoir

Adrianna and Mike walked through "Phantom Manor" as they now called it, heading towards the ballroom. They knew they were getting close when they heard music playing – a large organ, playing a beautiful and sad tune. They saw some light, and when they got closer, realized that they were on some sort of balcony – the ballroom appeared to have two floors. And what they saw below them was the biggest shock yet.

There were dozens – maybe hundreds – of ghosts in this giant ballroom. Many of them were waltzing, twirling about, doomed to repeat those same steps in 3/4 time forever. Others were partying, drinking from ghostly goblets, and eating from what looked like empty plates. There were even a few ghosts on a chandelier! Adrianna scanned the crowd for the bride, or the phantom, and Mike continued to look at the other guests in awe. There was an organist, playing from a huge pipe organ, while spectral wraiths flew out of it; a large line of seemingly never-ending ghosts, arms full of wedding presents for the bride and groom; and on a large banquet table, a wedding cake. Unlike the people that were to be eating it, the cake had aged – it had wilted over, grown moldy, and there were even some spider webs on it.

"Yum," Mike said sarcastically.

"Look! There's Melanie!" Whispered Adrianna. She had appeared across the room, on a smaller balcony that had a staircase leading to the lowest floor.

"My dear family and friends," she said in a beautiful voice. All of the ghosts became quiet, and focused their attention on Melanie. Adrianna watched the bride – this was the first time she had heard her speak.

"I regret to inform you that my…my groom to be…has not shown up yet. Perhaps if we wait for him for just a few hours more." The guests cheered, and continued to drink and eat. Melanie rushed away. And Adrianna and Mike saw something no one else could see: The Phantom.

He stood in the window, cackling at the bride's misfortune and the guests' obliviousness, his cape billowing in the thundering wind. A flash of lightning allowed Adrianna to see his face for the first time – it looked unnatural…very pale, with black eyes…But Adrianna could not see him clearly, because he was on the other side of the room.

"Let's go find Melanie," Adrianna said, and they moved on from the balcony.

They eventually stumbled across the room where Melanie was – her boudoir. They silently looked in the room, and Melanie was crying. She was facing the opposite wall, so they couldn't see her, but when she turned to look at her mirror, Adrianna and Mike could see the side of her face.

Melanie had aged.

She looked much older – she still had her brown hair, but there were obviously wrinkles on her face. Still in her wedding dress, she continued to cry.

"Leota was right," Mike whispered.

"Look at the mirror!" Adrianna said with a gasp. Every time Melanie looked away from her mirror, it fogged over, leaving three spots unfogged, making it look like a skeleton.

When she turned to look at it again, it quickly vanished.

"This is horrible," Adrianna said as they quietly closed the door, "We have to help her."

All of a sudden, the two heard a cackling sound coming from outside. They looked out one of the windows, to the back of the house. There stood the Phantom, and a hideous looking animal that Adrianna and Mike couldn't see clearly. He was laughing, and appeared to have just dug a grave.

"We have to go out there and stop him! He's trying to kill Melanie!" Adrianna said.

"Again!" Mike quipped.

They rushed back downstairs and out to the porch, and finally got a look at the Phantom. And what they saw was not pretty.

The Phantom's face was stripped of all flesh – it was just a skull. The animal, a grotesque canine of leathery flesh stretched tight over it's bones, started to growl at them. The Phantom laughed at them, and all of a sudden vanished.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Adrianna yelled. All of a sudden, the Phantom materialized in front of them, grabbed Mike by the neck, and seemed to fly back to where he was standing.

"Mike!" Adrianna screamed. Mike was struggling to loosen the Phantom's bony grip, but it was no use. The Phantom grinned evilly at Adrianna and dropped Mike into the grave.

Without a second thought, Adrianna ran over to the grave and jumped in it, going after Mike. The grave seemed endless. As she fell into the darkness, the Phantom's laughter faded away…


	6. Comic Relief in an Unexpected Place

Note: "Grim Grinning Ghosts" lyrics by X. Atencio and B. Baker. The Mayor's words based on actual ride quotes.

Chapter 6: Comic Relief in an Unexpected Place

Adrianna landed with a _thud_. She grabbed her shoulder in pain – that was a long fall.

"Mike?" Adrianna called into the darkness.

"Hey," He replied meekly.

"You okay?" She asked, getting slowly to her feet.

"I've been better," Mike replied. They found each other and grabbed hands to make sure they stayed together.

"I think I hear music," Mike said absentmindedly. Adrianna listened.

"Hey, you're right!" Adrianna said, "Your hearing's getting better!" Mike smiled, but Adrianna couldn't see it in the darkness.

They walked towards it slowly, feeling bones crunch beneath their feet. They rounded a corner, and suddenly saw some eerie light.

The glow seemed to be coming from something that Adrianna and Mike knew by know was not a good sign: caskets.

They were all shut, light and music escaping them.

"This isn't good." Adrianna said. The coffins suddenly jarred, and more light escaped from them.

An old, bony hand appeared from one of the coffins and pushed the lid opened. It sat up slowly and stared right at Adrianna and Mike.

They stared at it for a few seconds.

And screamed.

"Hey! Shut up!" It said in a raspy voice, "You're gonna wreck the mood!"

They stopped screaming.

"Guys, get up! We have an audience!" The skeleton announced to the other coffins. One by one they opened up. They had tattered clothes on, stained with dry blood, and a few wisps of hair still sticking on their heads.

Some skeletons had xylophones made from skulls, a few had bongos, and others had drums. They started to play a musical number, and Adrianna started taping her foot to the beat.

"And now, introducing the stars of our show!" The skeleton announced, pointing a bony finger at a far wall. It was suddenly illuminated, and Adrianna and Mike could see five busts, sitting on marble columns. They broke into a rousing chorus of a strange song.

_When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake  
Spooks come out for a swinging wake  
Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize  
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!_

_Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide  
Or a silly spook may sit by your side  
Shrouded in a daft disguise, they pretend to terrorize  
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!_

_As the moon climbs high o'er the dead oak tree  
Spooks arrive for the midnight spree  
Creepy creeps with eerie eyes  
Start to shriek and harmonize  
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!_

_When you hear the knell of the requiem bell  
Weird glows gleam where the spirits dwell  
Restless bones etherialize, rise as spooks of every size  
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!_

When the busts finished their songs, they bowed with their heads, and Adrianna and Mike clapped.

"That was great!" Adrianna said.

"Oh, thank you. We love having an audience – but as you can see, the earthquake knocked us down here, so we don't often get one," Said one of the busts.

"Would you like to hear another number?" Another bust asked, "We know a wide variety of songs…"

"Um…no thanks," Mike said politely, "We were actually wondering if you knew how to get out of here."

"Are you sure?" The busts asked, sadly.

"Yeah…sorry guys. If we have time we'll be sure to come back for another performance!" Adrianna promised, patting the busts' heads. A skeleton band member pointed the way out, and Adrianna and Mike headed out of the catacombs.

They soon came back to the ground level, and they realized that they were now in front of Phantom Manor. But things had changed.

The once abandoned ghost town was now filled with ghosts of all sorts.

"Wow." Adrianna quipped.

"I guess they don't come out during the day," Mike said.

"I'm sure the Phantom's out here somewhere…we gotta find him." Adrianna said, and Mike nodded in agreement. They started to explore the ghost town, searching for the Phantom.

They passed cowboys on ghostly horses flying through the sky, a hearse crashed on a train track, and came to an old wooden ticket booth. There was a skeleton in a stationmaster's uniform, slumped over, dead.

"I wonder how long _he's_ been here," Mike muttered, looking at a shredded ticket that was in his hand.

"Oh, not too long, not long at all! Days just fly by here!" Said a voice. Mike realized it was the body talking, and jumped back.

"Our train service is the best in this land of frontier! Don't be left out in the sunshine, and hop aboard for the wildest ride in the wilderness!" The ticket taker grinned and offered the shredded ticket to Mike.

"I think I'll pass this time, but thanks for the offer!" He said quickly, backing away slowly.

"Are ya sure? We've got great rates on trips to New Orleans-" The stationmaster said, trying to convince Mike.

"I'm good. Really."

"Well, I'll be here if you decide to change your mind!" The skeleton said cheerily, and suddenly slumped over, 'dead' again, on the ticket counter.

Meanwhile, Adrianna had been looking for other signs of 'life,' so to speak. She found herself in front of what looked like a tattered old city hall, and just as she was about to open the door, it burst open, knocking her on her butt.

It was the mayor – but he, like everyone else here, was a ghost. In his hand, he held a large key with a skull painted on the end: The key to the city.

"Welcome, foolish mortals!" The mayor said jovially in a deep voice, "There's no turning back now!"

"Thank you for that acute observation," Adrianna said huffily, "Now, we're looking for someone. Skeletal face, ugly, tried to murder us."

"Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding."

"Ah. You noticed."

"Indeed I did! And I'm afraid that who you just described sounds like many of the townspeople in our fair town. Actually, we have nine hundred and ninety-nine happy haunts here…" He said, smiling at Adrianna, "But there's room for a thousand."

The mayor's skeleton key smiled and winked at her.

"No thanks. I'll just…keep looking then." Adrianna said, staring at the key.

"Well, if you should decide to join us, final arrangements may be made at-" The mayor started to say, but was interrupted by Mike running up to Adrianna and saying "I think I found out which way to go."

Adrianna waved goodbye to the mayor and the key. The mayor, instead of taking his hat off like a human would, took his whole head off and bowed farewell to the two as they continued through Boot Hill.

The most dangerous part of their journey was just ahead…


	7. The Phantom and Finale

Chapter 7: The Phantom and Finale

Adrianna and Mike continued through Boot Hill. They heard gunshots up ahead, and when they rounded a turn they saw a bank robbery in progress. The whole side of a bank had been blown away, and a few ghosts dressed as robbers were shooting at anyone who tried to stop them.

"Maybe if we just sneak around quietly, they won't notice us," Adrianna whispered to Mike. But as soon as they tried to be quiet, they were noticed.

"Hey you!" One of the robbers yelled, "You better high tail it out of here or you're going to be sleeping with the fishes!"

"Oh, don't mind us…we're just passing through!" Adrianna said hastily, holding her hands up.

"You two don't look like yer from 'round here" Another robber said, eyeing Mike and Adrianna, "Are you tryin' to take our loot!"

"Hey! Yeh can't!" A rather fat ghost robber said, "We stole this fair and square! It's ours now!"

Adrianna rolled her eyes.

"Look, we're just trying to get through this place, so if you could-"

Adrianna was interrupted by one of the ghosts firing a bullet at Mike's head. It was green and translucent, and it merely passed right through Mike's skull and hit another ghost.

"Well…that's fortunate." Mike said.

"Not for that other guy," Adrianna said, pointing her thumb at the ghost who had received the bullet. He was bleeding ectoplasm and sitting on the ground, crying like a baby.

"Eh…he'll be fine."

Mike and Adrianna passed an old bar that had a wall missing. Inside they could see a ghost playing an old piano honky-tonk style, using a light held by a skeleton hand sticking out from the top of the piano. Some invisible ghosts were playing poker, cards lifting up then laying on the table, and cigar smoke rising from invisible smokes. They saw some showgirls performing, but each time they did a high kick one or two of them lost a leg – it went flying through the air and landed on the ground on the other side of the bar.

Just as they thought things couldn't get any weirder, they ran into the Boot Hill Pharmacy. A corporeal pharmacist was mixing all sorts of strange liquids in the window.

"Howdy, folks! Need a remedy?" He asked politely as they approached, "I've been working on this one for quite some time now." He picked up a sickly green vial and downed the whole thing. A few seconds after doing so, the pharmacist's face turned a purplish green color, and he collapsed, dead. But just as Adrianna was going to peer over the counter to see if he was still there, he popped back up, his face normal, and a smile on his face.

"Howdy, folks! Need a remedy?" He asked politely, "I've been working on this one for quite some time now." He repeated the process, and fell dead again.

"I wonder if he even realizes what he's doing," Mike said as they watched him die over and over again.

"I don't think so – all of the souls are trapped here, doomed to repeat."

"They sound like animatronics at a Disney park," Mike said with a chuckle. Adrianna smiled, but the mood was quickly ruined.

They heard evil laughter off in the distance, and they knew it could only be one person: The Phantom.

Adrianna and Mike quickly ran to the source of the laughter, and found that the Phantom had changed: his once skeletal face was now a horribly disfigured corpse, rotting and peeling away. Blood leaked from his soulless eyes as he continued to dig another grave.

"You're too late," he said, in the most horrible sounding voice Adrianna had ever heard, "My daughter is at peace now…you will not remove her from her home! It is where she belongs!"

"What have you done to her?" Adrianna yelled to the Phantom, but he just laughed and disappeared with a flash of lightning. Adrianna looked around, and realized they were near the Manor again – a side door, built into the hill that the house rested on.

"C'mon! I think she's inside!" Adrianna said, and grabbed Mike's arm. She pushed open the metal door, and they were shocked at what they found.

In the middle of what looked like a giant blue crystal formation, lay Melanie.

She was dead.

The bride was nearly unrecognizable – the only sign that it was her was the tattered white dress that her skeletal corpse was wearing.

"We're too late." Adrianna said, falling to the ground. The bride was long gone -they had failed to save her. As Adrianna wiped a tear away, Mike noticed something.

"Look at the crystal," He said, and Adrianna lifted her head. It had started to glow blue, and the two heard some very distant music. It sounded like singing.

"Melanie?" Adrianna wondered aloud. They looked at the skeleton, and were shocked to see that it had moved. It was now pointing a bony finger towards the opposite of where they came in. She wanted them to continue on.

"Let's go," Adrianna said quietly, and she and Mike walked onward. They found themselves by some large, circular mirrors hanging on a wall.

"Maybe this is where the bride wanted us to go," Adrianna said. She looked at her reflection.

All of a sudden, the ghostly image of the phantom appeared above and behind her! Adrianna quickly whirled around, but saw nothing.

She stared in the mirror again, and a few seconds later, the Phantom reappeared. This time, she let it move closer.

It was slowly moving towards Adrianna, reaching for her neck…

But Adrianna was faster. She quickly spun around, and grabbed at him. She was able to get hold of invisible hands, and threw the Phantom down on the ground.

"Why are you doing this!" Adrianna asked him as he appeared into view. Mike ran over to help Adrianna hold him down. He glared at the two, but defeated, he explained.

"My daughter…I cannot let her leave." The Phantom said in his horrible voice.

"Why?" Adrianna said, "Why is it so important to you to keep her here?"

"Because she belongs here…she is happy here…" The Phantom said, blood continuing to drip off of him.

"Happy?" Adrianna said, appalled, "Are you blind? Have you seen the pain and hurt that you've caused Melanie? She was in love, and you destroyed it for your own selfish needs!"

"Her husband was evil…he wanted to take her away from me,"

"If you truly loved your daughter, you would've let him! You have to realize that you can't hold onto something forever, no matter how hard you try. Have you not noticed that even after all of these years, Melanie is still vigilant in her wait for her husband?"

The Phantom was silent.

"Melanie was not betraying you by marrying. She loved you, but she needed to move on with her life. But because of your selfishness, she can't. She's trapped here, forever, as well as all of these other ghosts. You've doomed them all to an eternity of suffering."

"I…I…" The Phantom stuttered. His eyes widened.

"What've I done?" He gasped. Adrianna let go of him and Mark did the same. The Phantom sat up and looked at himself.

"Look at what I have become! A monster!" He said, "I just wanted Melanie to be happy…but instead I've destroyed her!"

The phantom let out a moan of agony. He turned to Adrianna and Mike, and instead of blood flowing from his eyes, there were now tears.

"Please…destroy me…I should not exist on this earth now…and neither should anyone else here."

"That excludes us, right?" Mike said.

"How are we supposed to destroy you?" Adrianna asked the Phantom, ignoring Mike. The Phantom punched one of the mirrors with a bony hand, causing it to shatter. He picked up a large shard of glass and handed it to Adrianna.

"With this."

Adrianna stared at the shard of glass, then at the Phantom.

"I'm sorry I have to do this," She said, as she prepared to do what she knew she had to.

"No…I am the one that is sorry," The Phantom said, bowing his head.

Adrianna thrust the shard of glass into the Phantom's chest. He glowed orange, and released a scream of pain. Everything around him started to rumble. The other mirrors started to shake.

"C'mon! We gotta get out of here! This place is going down!" Mike said, grabbing Adrianna. He pulled her away, and she watched as the Phantom writhed and slowly decomposed.

They made their way through the wine cellar, up through the house and back out the front door, and ran as far away as they could. When they were a safe distance away, they turned to watch.

Thunder Mesa was having another earthquake.

The ground around all of the buildings in Boot Hill started to crack, and they slowly crumbled and vanished into the ground. Ravenswood Manor, the once majestic mansion on the hill, slowly crumbled and disappeared into the ground with the rest of the town. Even the "Boot Hill" sign fell into the earth.

There was no sign that the town even existed.

"It's over…we did it," Adrianna breathed, staring at the empty land. Then something even more amazing than the earthquake happened. From the cracks in the ground, Adrianna and Mike saw hundreds of ghosts fly up out of them and into the sky. They were finally able to move on.

But one ghost, instead of flying into the sky, floated towards Adrianna and Mike. It was Melanie.

"Thank you," She said in her beautiful tone, "For everything. My father has finally freed us from his evil. I can now be with my true love." She smiled, and slowly floated towards the sky, her wedding dress and appearance now beautiful. Adrianna and Mike waved as she finally went to join her husband.

Not much of Boot Hill remains now. Just a few cracks in the ground from the earthquake, one or two old wooden beams that weren't swallowed up…and if you listen closely, the mysterious tinkering of a music box, floating through the wind.

The End


End file.
